Architectural practice returns - after the period of global emergency - to its tangible dimension, between plastic volumes and specific materiality. Between experimental studies of collective dwellings, and new architectures dedicated to the realm of culture, the world of building resumes full time, giving the world of architecture a new design impetus, more aware of housing issues and the sustainability of new constructions.
We have therefore selected for you projects from all over the world, from China to Canada to the nearest European capitals.
Spain’s largest residential complex with a wooden structure
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The social housing building designed by Peris + Toral Arquitectes in the municipality of Cornellà de Llobregat near Barcelona is a hymn to sustainability and flexibility, starting with the efficiency of the production process and the use of natural local materials and ending with a study of the interior layout designed to maximise the variability of use of spaces according to the different, changing needs of users. Read the full article here.
A manifesto of low-tech principles in a 21st century ‘Arts and Crafts’ building
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Founded in 1768 as a training institute for freethinking teachers, in 1894 Homerton College moved from its original location in East London to Cambridge, maintaining for decades its specific training vocation for teachers until becoming, since 2010, a college in its own right and the largest – in terms of student numbers – in the city. The complex, located in a 10-hectare historic park with gardens, orchards and sports fields, is dotted with Victorian buildings in neo-Gothic style and inspired by the “Arts and Crafts” movement, among which the 1914 Ibberson Building stands out, with which the new building designed by the London-based Feilden Fowles studio dialogues in a balanced manner. Read the full article here.
Between urban infrastructure and design: a water story
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In a rapidly changing area between rail yards to the north, the high-traffic arterial roads of Lake Shore Boulevard and Gardiner Expressway to the south and the port's industrial lands to the Keating Channel, this brutalist monolith of cast concrete, which looks like an alien-derived crystal landed in the mud, intentionally catalyzes attention to an expanding city section and its supporting infrastructure. Read the full article here.
Oslo, the new museum is a temple balancing the classic and the contemporary
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The building fits like a sculptural element into the city centre at Vestbanetomten on the vibrant Brynjulf Bulls plass next to the Aker Brygge wharf, in an area formerly occupied by a railway station amidst preserved historical buildings of cultural interest and iconic presences in the urban skyline, such as the Oslo City Hall and the Akershus fortress, with which it dialogues in a balanced manner. The part of the building facing the harbour houses the services for the public while the opposite side contains the service and accessory rooms. Read the full article here.
A suspended, upside-down spa in South Tyrol
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After designing the swimming pool for the Hotel Hubertus in Valdaora in 2016, studio noa* returns to South Tyrol for a new project, this time dedicated to wellness. It was precisely the iconic cantilevered pool to inpire the new building, designed as a suspended, upside-down village. A surrealist architecture focusing on the idea of reflection and the reversal of viewpoints, evoking the image of a landscape reflected in water. Read the full article here.
Álvaro Siza’s first building in the U.S.
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The tower rises from a thicker base, with a 53-foot high windowless block. According with Siza iconic style, the building is clad entirely in Perla Bianca limestone, chosen to create a contrast with other towers in the area, with dark or mostly glass facades. The white facade – sober and regular – is punctuated by over-sized windows, which provide views of Manhattan and over the Hudson River Read the full article here.
A light bubble in London's Design District
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The Design District Canteen, dominated by a bright yellow hue, is composed of a light metal structure, a clear ETFE membrane shell, and polycarbonate panels. All these layers cover a central spine-like core that houses the market itself and features translucent backlight materials, that make the project look like a big lamp, all night long. In addition, at ground level, the project is protected by polycarbonate panels, useful to prevent any vandalism. Read the full article here.
A hybrid, reversible macro-structure on a human and machine scale
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In the campus currently under construction in Paris-Saclay, which will house universities, research centres and companies operating in the technology, computer science and engineering sectors, Parisian studio Bruther – in synergy with the Belgian studio Baukunst – has built an imposing “hybrid” infrastructure as part of a future ZAC (Zone d’Amènagement Concertè) linked to the Ecole Polytechnique, housing the plurality of functions required by the competition: 192 student housing units, 500 public and private parking, shops and community spaces. Read the full article here.
Royal College of Art’s new campus designed by Herzog & de Meuron
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On 23 May 2022, London’s Royal College of Art, the world’s leading art and design university, unveiled the new Battersea campus designed by internationally renowned firm Herzog & de Meuron. The new campus consists of four floors of studios and laboratories designed as social and educational spaces, a 350 m² multifunctional hangar and a second, smaller one dedicated to robotics; it also includes the Rausing Research & Innovation Building, eight floors of space dedicated to independent research that houses, on the top floor, the Seminar & Conference Facility, for use by the College and external partners. Read the full article here.
A new iconic architecture for Lausanne mudac
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In the initial masterplan of Plateforme 10, the idea was to hold two different competitions for the two museums to be built, to make the result and the cultural attraction even richer. And since Aires Mateus’ building was realised later than Barozzi-Veiga’s MCBA building, temporally and spatially, the design intent for completing the block was to create an independent, pure, compact and clear structure but at the same time permeable, clearly visible from afar in its formal clarity. Read the full article here.
World’s first multi-storey skatepark is an urban regeneration manifesto
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The building, which stands on the edge of one of the most degraded neighbourhoods in the region, is an iconic presence in the urban landscape: a dense and massive volume with soft and fluctuating shapes that grows in size with height, suspended on a translucent glass enclosure on the ground floor, and that already seems to defy the laws of gravity. The complex houses, distributed over four floors, a café and a community space, a boxing gym, a 600 sqm climbing wall and several skateboard bowls, differentiated according to skill level. Read the full article here.
New complex delicately fits into the urban context
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The complex fits delicately into the urban context characterised by the dominant use of bricks: the external facades are entirely covered with glazed bricks in various chromatic tones which enliven the mighty walls. To reduce the visual impact of the building, the geometry of the volumes is articulated according to a play on levels, lowering the building near the entrances to allow the perception of a “human scale” of the complex. Green roofs and solar panels help reduce the building's ecological footprint. Read the full article here.
BIG and Barcode Architects unveiled the housing block on the Amsterdam waterfront
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Dutch studio Barcode Architects and Danish architecture studio BIG have unveiled the Sluishuis housing block above the IJ lake in Amsterdam’s IJburg district. Built on an artificial island in the IJ lake, the residential development contains 442 apartments and has a distinctive squared shape, with blocks on two sides of the square cantilevered to create a gateway above the water and the other two blocks stepping down to create terraces with apartments opening out on top balconies. The building hosts also inside a harbor. Read the full article here.
A chapel in China is inspired by the moon
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In all cultures, the moon has always fascinated man: its perennial cycles have been associated with phenomena of nature and human existence such as fertility, birth and death, health and illness. In a remote location in the mountains where there is still a strong rural heritage, the moon as the emblem of an ancient culture becomes the symbol of social and economic rebirth, thanks to a territorial marketing policy that aims to promote the area through tourism and new business development opportunities. Read the full article here.
700 reused windows represent collective journey towards sustainability
The Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center is a recycled and recyclable piece of architecture, which can be resized in the future according to the needs of the citizens. The most representative element of the building is undoubtedly the facade, made up of 700 different windows. The frames donated by the community were repaired, measured and positioned using software, creating a seemingly random but precise patchwork that has great visual impact. Read the full article here.